The northernmost province in the Philippines has one airport, one morning boat to Sabtang and, since June 2026, a compulsory PHP 405 visitor registration. The Batanes tour packages below are the ones you can book online today — with what each covers, and what you still pay on arrival.
Updated August 2026
Quick answer
We currently compare eight Batanes tour packages and day tours sold on Klook and GetYourGuide. They split into three shapes: multi-day packages that bundle the standard island routes, single-day tours of one island, and one trip out to Itbayat. The 3-day package at $96.79 covers North Batan, Sabtang and South Batan and is the only listing here with a substantial review record; the 2-day version at $56.29 drops the boat day and is the cheapest; the GetYourGuide 4-day package does the same three routes for $331. None of them includes flights, hotels, or the PHP 405 provincial visitor fee.
Key takeaways
Everything below is bookable online without going through a Manila agency. Booking, payment, changes and cancellation are handled by Klook or GetYourGuide on their own sites; prices, ratings and review counts here were read from the listings in August 2026 and change without notice. None of these prices includes airfare, accommodation or the provincial visitor fee.
The cheapest way to cover all three standard routes. Day 1 runs 12:00–18:00 on North Batan, day 2 leaves at 05:30 for the Sabtang boat, day…
The cheapest listing compared here, and the one to pick if your flight schedule leaves no room for the Sabtang boat day. Day 1 runs 12:00–18:00…
The same three routes as the Klook 3-day package, spread over four days with the return flight as day four and hotel pickup included. Accommodation is…
Itbayat is the northernmost inhabited island in the Philippines and the crossing is a long open-sea boat ride, so this trip is weather-dependent by nature. Two…
The lowest-priced single-day listing compared here, in an air-conditioned car or van with a local guide-driver. The listing names five stops rather than a full stop-by-stop…
The most detailed South Batan itinerary of the listings compared here — eleven stops written out in order, including the Honesty Coffee Shop, the 1880s House…
The shorter of the two Sabtang listings and the one sold as a private group. It covers the two heritage villages rather than a long stop…
The fullest Sabtang stop list compared here, and the only one that names the Savidug idjang fortress viewpoint, the Chamantad–Tinyan view deck and the Ahaw arch…
The column that decides most bookings is the third one. Batan Island alone can be done by road; Sabtang needs a boat that only sails in the morning and only in decent weather, which is why it costs a whole day.
| Tour | Price | Islands | Book | Days | Lunch | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-day package | $96.79 | Batan + Sabtang | Details | 3 | All 3 days | Free, 48h | → |
| 2-day package | $56.29 | Batan only | Details | 2 | Both days | Free, 48h | → |
| 4-day package | $331 | Batan + Sabtang | Details | 4 | 3 days | Free, 24h | → |
| Itbayat 2-day | $256 | Itbayat | Details | 2 | Included | Free, 24h | → |
| South Batan + lunch | $115 | Batan (south) | Details | 1 | Included | Free, 24h | → |
| South Batan signature | $139 | Batan (south) | Details | 1 | Not listed | Free, 24h | → |
| Sabtang + lunch | $156 | Sabtang | Details | 1 | Included | Free, 24h | → |
| Sabtang scenic | $162 | Sabtang | Details | 1 | Included | Free, 24h | → |
Prices are the per-person from-rates shown in August 2026. On both Klook packages the per-person rate falls as the party grows, because the vehicle is priced whole: solo travellers and pairs get a cogon tricycle, three to ten travellers get a van.
Dates for the most-booked listing compared here. Pick a day and the booking page opens with that date already set; you confirm the party size and pay on the platform.
You'll confirm the exact date and time on the secure booking page.
Batanes is four inhabited islands, but only three of them appear on the standard tour circuit, and each takes a day.
The 2-day package is the honest minimum. Day one runs 12:00 to 18:00 on North Batan — Basco itself, the PAGASA radar station on the ridge, Valugan Boulder Beach on the Pacific side, the lighthouse on Naidi Hills and Vayang Rolling Hills. Day two starts at Chawa View Deck at 09:00 and works south through Mahatao, Ivana and Uyugan until 17:00.
At $56.29 per person it is the cheapest thing on this page, and it is the right choice when your flights leave you two clear days rather than three. What you give up is Sabtang, which is the island most people come to photograph. The listing describes a private group but also warns that the transfer is shared and that pickup can run early or late, which is worth knowing if you have a tight afternoon.
Add Sabtang and you have the classic Batanes trip. The 3-day package sequences it the way local operators do: North Batan on the afternoon you land, Sabtang the next day with a 05:30 pickup for the morning boat, South Batan on the third day from 09:00 to 17:00. Lunch is included on all three days, as are the port fee, the Protected Area Management Board fee and the Visitor's Sustainable Ecotourism fee.
This listing is also the only one here with a real review record — 4.8 out of 5 from 66 Klook reviewers and more than 900 bookings — which matters when six of the eight listings on this page are new and unrated. Reviewers repeatedly describe the pace as unhurried rather than packed, which is not what three days in a row usually feels like.
The GetYourGuide 4-day package from KKJ Travel Services covers the same three routes and adds the departure day. It costs $331 against $96.79 for the Klook three-day equivalent — a gap that has nothing to do with what you see. Hotel pickup and drop-off, entrance fees, environmental charges and an accredited English-speaking guide are included; accommodation is not, and the PHP 350 Batanes tourism entry fee named on the listing is paid separately.
It is a new listing with no reviews yet. If you want a fourth day in Batanes, the cheaper route is to book the 3-day package and keep the extra day free for the things tours skip: the Fundacion Pacita ridge, the Basco market, or a second run at whatever the weather took away.
Four listings sell one island at a time. On South Batan, the Gladex day tour with lunch at $115 is the cheapest single day compared here and names five headline stops; the Sarah Lea signature tour at $139 writes out eleven stops in running order, including the Honesty Coffee Shop, the House of Dakay and the old Spanish bridge, but does not list lunch as included.
On Sabtang, the Gladex tour with lunch at $156 runs seven hours as a private group and concentrates on the villages of Savidug and Chavayan; the Sarah Lea scenic and adventure tour at $162 runs eight hours and is the only Sabtang listing here that names the Savidug idjang viewpoint, the Chamantad–Tinyan deck and the Ahaw stone arch. Booking two single days separately costs more than the three-day package and gives you less.
The 2-day Itbayat trip at $256 is the only listing here that leaves Batan Island for the far north. It crosses from Basco Port to Valanga Port by boat, spends a full day on Torongan Cliff, the Aruis Tree, Kavaywan Lake, the Secret Arch and Mt. Karoboboan, sleeps in a fan room, then hikes to Rapang Cliff before dawn for sunrise over the Rock Garden.
The crossing is open sea and long, and the listing warns it is unsuitable for anyone with vertigo or mobility problems. Nobody should build a first trip to Batanes around Itbayat — the boat is the first thing weather takes. It belongs on a second visit, or on a trip with slack days built in.
Renting your own wheels is legal, cheap and still popular. Since June 2026 there is a catch: the provincial registration portal asks every visitor to name a Department of Tourism-accredited tour operator as part of the entry process.
| How you get around | Cost | What it gets you | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tricycle, North Batan | About PHP 1,000 for two | A driver who knows the loop | No guiding, no fees paid for you |
| Tricycle, South Batan | About PHP 1,500 for two | The full coastal run at your pace | Long day, exposed to sun and wind |
| Tricycle on Sabtang | About PHP 800 for two | Village-to-village transport | You still buy the boat and the island fee yourself |
| Motorcycle | About PHP 500 a day | Total freedom on Batan | Weather turns fast; no insurance worth the name |
| Guided day tour | $115 to $162 per person | Vehicle, guide, entrance fees, usually lunch | Fixed schedule set by the operator |
| Multi-day package | $56.29 to $331 per person | Every route, every fee, one booking | You are locked into the operator's running order |
Self-drive rates are the going figures reported by Batanes travel guides, not quoted prices; you negotiate on the day. Sabtang independently still means the PHP 100 boat fare each way plus the island's PHP 350 environmental fee, on top of whatever the tricycle costs.
Batanes added a province-wide entry system in 2026, and Ivana added its own fee the same year. Neither is inside any tour price on this page.
Under Executive Order No. 23, Series of 2026, the Provincial Government of Batanes requires every incoming visitor to pre-register through the Batanes Smart Tourism Registration Portal at bookings.breathtakingbatanes.com before travelling. The fee is PHP 405 per person: a PHP 200 ecotourism fee plus a PHP 205 visitor ID fee.
Registration asks for your personal details and travel dates, a valid government-issued ID or passport, a verification selfie, where you are staying, and the name of a Department of Tourism-accredited tour operator. Payment goes through QRPH, card, or over-the-counter channels. Once approved you receive a QR code by email; you present it at Basco Airport or the seaport, where it is verified and exchanged for a physical PVC visitor ID.
Returning Batanes residents are exempt from registration altogether. Children under 12, authorised researchers and certain government personnel are exempt from the PHP 200 ecotourism fee, and senior citizens and persons with disabilities get 20% off it.
That operator field is the part that changes how people plan. The portal wants a DOT-accredited operator named at the point of registration, so the old approach — land in Basco, hire a tricycle at the terminal and improvise — is no longer the default route for most visitors.
Separately, since January 2026 the municipality of Ivana charges a Mandatory Tourist Registration and Local Environmental and Heritage Fee — the LEAH fee — of PHP 100 per person, payable on site, with a discount for senior citizens and persons with disabilities holding valid IDs.
You will pay it. Ivana is where the Honesty Coffee Shop, the San Jose de Ivana church and the Ivana lighthouse are, and it is where the boat to Sabtang leaves from, so every South Batan and every Sabtang itinerary passes through it. Both Klook packages list this fee explicitly as excluded from the price.
The multi-day Klook packages cover the Protected Area Management Board fee, the Visitor's Sustainable Ecotourism fee, the port fee, boat transfers and site admissions. The GetYourGuide listings state that entrance fees and environmental charges are included, with the KKJ four-day package naming a PHP 350 Batanes tourism entry fee as the exception you still pay.
Going independently, the same charges land on you individually: about PHP 100 each way on the Sabtang boat and a PHP 350 environmental fee for the island, plus site-by-site admissions. The arithmetic is why a guided day on Sabtang is not the markup it looks like at first glance.
Nothing about a Batanes trip is expensive except the way in. The tours are ordinary Philippine prices; the flight is not.
Batanes is the smallest province in the Philippines by land area, about 230 square kilometres across ten islands, three of them inhabited by more than a handful of people, and it has the lowest population of any province in the country. The strong winds its position produces are why it is called the Home of the Winds, and why Ivatan houses are built of metre-thick stone under cogon-grass roofs.
That scale is worth holding in mind when you look at the flight price. You are not paying to reach a region; you are paying to reach an archipelago smaller than most Philippine cities, at the far end of the Luzon Strait.
Basco Airport (BSO) is the only airport in the province, and its runway cannot be extended — the terrain leaves nowhere to put it without going into the mountain or through housing. Capacity is therefore capped, aircraft are small, and fares behave accordingly: roughly PHP 4,000 to PHP 15,000 return, commonly around PHP 7,000, with occasional seat sales that go far below and peak-season pricing that goes far above.
Philippine Airlines reintroduced a Clark–Basco service, and Manila departures come and go by season. Flight time is one to two hours. This is the answer to the question people actually ask: Batanes is not expensive because the tours cost a lot — the three-day package is $96.79 — it is expensive because 45 minutes of ocean sits between it and the rest of the country and only one runway is allowed to bridge it.
The same typhoon season that closes the Sabtang channel grounds aircraft, and a grounded aircraft in Basco means waiting for the next one, which may not be tomorrow. This is the practical argument for building slack into a Batanes trip rather than booking three touring days back to back against a tight return flight.
It is also the practical argument for the cancellation terms on this page. Both Klook packages allow free cancellation and changes up to 48 hours before the activity; all six GetYourGuide listings allow free cancellation up to 24 hours before and let you reserve now and pay later. Neither protects you against a flight that never leaves Manila.
The dry season runs December to May and April is the driest month. Typhoon season is June to November, with August the worst of it. Daytime temperatures stay in a narrow band of roughly 22 to 28°C all year, so the decision is about wind, rain and whether the boat sails — not about heat.
Sources: published Batanes climate summaries and the seasonal packing advice printed on the Klook listings compared here (jacket December–March, rain jacket July–November). Weather in Batanes changes faster than any calendar; treat this as odds, not a forecast.
Every itinerary compared here is built from the same set of stops. These are the ones the listings name, grouped by the island they sit on.
Stop lists are taken from the itineraries and "good to know" sections of the eight listings compared on this page, read in August 2026. Operators reorder stops for weather and tide without notice.
One boat, one morning departure, and a channel where two oceans meet. Everything about the Batanes tour calendar bends around it.
The faluwa — the traditional round-bottomed Ivatan boat with no outriggers — leaves Ivana Port between roughly 06:00 and 07:00, usually once a day, and comes back from Sabtang at about 13:00 to 14:00. The crossing takes 30 to 45 minutes across water where the currents of the West Philippine Sea and the Pacific meet, and it has a reputation among Filipino travellers for being genuinely rough.
That schedule is why the 3-day package sets a 05:30 pickup on its Sabtang day, and why every single-day Sabtang tour on this page starts with a road transfer from Basco to Ivana before dawn. It is also why a Sabtang day cannot be moved to the afternoon if you oversleep.
When the channel is up, the boat does not sail. There is no alternative crossing, no bridge and no flight. If Sabtang is the reason you came, put it early in your trip so a cancellation leaves you a second attempt, and read the cancellation terms before you book: the Klook packages allow changes up to 48 hours ahead, GetYourGuide up to 24 hours, and neither window helps you at 05:00 on the morning the sea decides.
Operators handle it in practice by rearranging the running order — several Klook reviewers describe exactly that, with the agency reshuffling the schedule the night before to save the itinerary. It works because the North and South Batan routes are road-based and can be swapped freely. It is another argument for a package over three separately booked days.
This is the shape of the 3-day package, which is how local operators sequence the standard routes around the flight schedule and the boat.
Collection from your accommodation inside Basco town proper or Chanarian. Aircraft land late morning, so the North Batan route is built as an afternoon.
Basco Cathedral, the PAGASA radar and Tukon Chapel on the ridge, the Dipnaysupuan tunnel, Valugan Boulder Beach on the Pacific side, then Naidi Hills and Vayang Rolling Hills for the light at the end of the day.
Drop-off in Basco. Eat early; the next morning starts before dawn.
Road transfer south to Ivana Port to make the single morning faluwa. The Ivana LEAH fee of PHP 100 is collected here, in cash.
Thirty to forty-five minutes to Sabtang. Take a motion-sickness tablet beforehand — reviewers who normally travel well say this one still got them.
San Vicente Ferrer Church at the port, the Savidug stone houses, the Chamantad–Tinyan viewpoint, Chavayan village and its weavers, then Nakabuang Beach and the Ahaw arch, with lunch on the island.
Return boat around midday, then the road north. The afternoon is yours.
Chawa View Deck, Mahatao boat shelter port, San Carlos Borromeo Church, the Homoron Blue Lagoon and White Beach, Racuh a Payaman, Alapad, the Honesty Coffee Shop and the House of Dakay.
Drop-off at your accommodation. If your flight out is the next morning, keep the evening loose — departures move with the weather.
Two things catch first-time visitors: the wind, and the assumption that a card will work.
Basco has two banks — Landbank and PNB — and there are no money-changing facilities in the province. Many establishments are cash only, and both Klook listings tell travellers outright to carry emergency cash for this reason.
Budget for what gets paid on the spot: the PHP 100 Ivana LEAH fee, souvenirs, the Honesty Coffee Shop, food outside the included lunches, and anything you rent. The PHP 405 provincial registration is different — that one is paid online in advance through the portal, by QRPH, card or over the counter.
Both Klook packages and the GetYourGuide listings converge on the same items, and the seasonal split is the useful part: a jacket from December to March, a rain jacket or umbrella from July to November.
Public smoking is prohibited across Batanes, and it is stated on the listings rather than implied. The GetYourGuide operators add their own bans: no drones on the KKJ four-day package, no littering, no feeding animals or touching plants, and no alcohol or sleeveless shirts on the Sarah Lea tours.
The province is not being precious. Batanes has fewer than twenty thousand residents, the landscapes on every page of this site are working pastureland, and the reason they still look like this is that visitors have been made to behave.
Great and worth it tour package! We had a very beautiful and wonderful time exploring Batanes. The 3-day tour made experiencing Batanes so worth it—packed with every single place we needed to go to see the beauty of the island.
Highly recommended tour. It doesn't feel like we have to rush to see everything and we didn't feel tired after 3 days. We started the tour last Dec 27 and it drizzled a bit, just right to still appreciate the view.
Be prepared for some hiking - make sure you have suitable footwear. It was very windy, so using a hat with a chin strap may help. For those with motion sickness, take an anti-motion sickness tablet before the boat ride to Sabtang. I still didn't feel good during the 20-minute boat ride despite taking one beforehand.
I wish that contacting the tour operator was easy. The number here on Klook as well as the one I found online did not work. No one contacted me prior to the tour to confirm our pick-up time and location. Good thing we were picked up on time and from our accommodation as well.
Despite bad weather, the travel agency promptly rearranged the tour schedule the night before to ensure we could still visit all the key sites.
Very nice tour, recommended for all age groups. Scenery is just as good as seen in UK and Ireland.
Verified Klook reviews for the two packages compared on this page, quoted with their original dates and party sizes.
Three touring days is the working minimum, because North Batan, South Batan and Sabtang each take a day and the Sabtang boat only sails in the morning. That is exactly how the 3-day package is built. Guides who know the province suggest five days on the ground so that one cancelled boat or one grounded flight does not delete an island from the trip. Two days is enough only for Batan Island, which is what the 2-day package covers.
The tours themselves are the cheap part. The listings compared here run from $56.29 for the two-day Batan package to $331 for the four-day GetYourGuide package, with single-day tours between $115 and $162. On top you pay the PHP 405 provincial visitor registration, the PHP 100 Ivana LEAH fee, accommodation, and flights of roughly PHP 4,000 to PHP 15,000 return.
February to April, with April the driest month of the year. The dry season as a whole runs December to May and daytime temperatures sit around 22 to 28°C throughout. Typhoon season is June to November and August is the worst of it — that is the month to avoid if you cannot absorb a cancelled flight or a closed sea channel. The month-by-month breakdown has the detail.
Because of the flight, not the tours. Basco Airport is the only airport in the province and its runway cannot be extended, so seat capacity is capped and return fares run roughly PHP 4,000 to PHP 15,000. A three-day guided circuit on the ground costs $96.79 per person, which is ordinary Philippine pricing. More on getting there.
You can still rent a tricycle or a motorcycle and drive yourself — reported rates are around PHP 1,000 for North Batan, PHP 1,500 for South Batan and PHP 800 on Sabtang, for two people. But since June 2026 the provincial registration portal asks every visitor to name a Department of Tourism-accredited tour operator during registration, which changes the calculation for most first-time visitors. Sabtang independently also means buying the boat fare and the island environmental fee yourself.
Since 15 June 2026, under Executive Order No. 23, Series of 2026, every visitor must pre-register at bookings.breathtakingbatanes.com and pay PHP 405 per person — PHP 200 ecotourism fee plus PHP 205 visitor ID fee. You submit an ID or passport, a verification selfie, your accommodation and an accredited operator, then present the emailed QR code at Basco Airport for a physical visitor ID. Children under 12 are exempt from the ecotourism portion. Full breakdown of the fees.
It is reliable in the dry season and unreliable outside it. The faluwa leaves Ivana Port around 06:00 to 07:00, usually once a day, and crosses in 30 to 45 minutes; when the channel is rough it does not sail at all and there is no alternative. Book Sabtang early in your trip so a cancellation still leaves you a second chance. How the crossing works.
By air to Basco Airport (BSO), one to two hours, on the seasonal Manila service or via Clark, where Philippine Airlines reintroduced a Basco route. There is no passenger ferry that serves tourists on any practical schedule. Book the flight before the tour — everything on this page assumes you are already in Basco.
No. This is an independent comparison site. Every tour on this page is operated and sold by a third party — Klook or GetYourGuide and their local operators — and all bookings, payments, changes and customer service happen on their platform. We compare tour listings, official visitor information and recent traveller feedback. We do not operate or personally conduct these tours. How we research.
Planning guides
The detail that does not fit on one page: the registration process, the flight problem, the seasons, and what the islands hold beyond the standard stop list.
Batanes Philippines Tours
